“We have something to offer for everybody,” said Kim Penrod, director of the museum. “… and what’s not to love about a buffalo? They’re adorable.”

The article, written by CNN’s Katia Hetter, seeks to prove that “…there’s something fun to do in each and every state. Yes, every state. Not a believer? We’re going to prove it.”

Most of the rest of the piece consists of a slideshow with pictures, listing each state in alphabetical order along with a single travel suggestion.

Minnesota’s travel destination is the Mississippi River, from the headwaters to the bluffs where the river flows south through the Twin Cities.

Like the National Buffalo Museum in Jamestown, South Dakota’s featured place features bison —it’s the Custer State Park in the Black Hills, which also includes elk, mountain goats and other animals.

North Dakota’s listing for the National Buffalo Museum specifically mentions each of the three white buffalo by name — White Cloud, Dakota Legend and Dakota Miracle — and encourages viewers to ask where the bison are roaming when they arrive at the museum in the summer.

“The best place to see them after Labor Day and before Memorial Day is from the Interstate,” Penrod said, noting that is when the bison are moved into their winter pasture area.

The museum itself has two paid full-time employees and one part-timer, and the 11 members of its board of directors serve as its volunteers.

The museum’s exhibits tell the story of the buffalo, beginning 1,000 years ago through the present day, Penrod said. There’s even an art collection depicting bison from various perspectives.

There are currently 29 head of bison roaming the winter pasture, with 15 on the south side and 14 on the north. The white bison are always on the north side.

All the bison originate from the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, including White Cloud.

“We’re pretty proud of that,” Penrod said.

Likely the best time to see the herd is in the early spring, she added, before it gets warm and the animals shed their warm winter coats, becoming a little scraggly-looking.

Penrod wasn’t certain why the white buffalo and the museum were chosen ahead of all the other attractions in the state, but noted that buffalo are still romanticized across the nation, considered part of the Old West.

“Right now, there are bison in all 50 states and multiple countries across the world,” Penrod said.

Kari Lucin joined the Grand Forks Herald as a multimedia producer in August 2014.
Previously, she worked for a few years at the Jamestown Sun in Jamestown, N.D., as a staff writer, and prior to that, for about six years as staff writer and later online content coordinator, at the Daily Globe in Worthington, Minn.
A graduate of Jackson County Central High School and Augsburg College, she has a bachelor's degree in philosophy and English.
Find more of her writing at her blog, Oh Look, a Shiny Thing! or on Twitter at @karilucin.